INTRODUCTION TO 123D DESIGN

Transcription

1 INTRODUCTION TO 123D DESIGN *Dear users, please feel free to download this Help pdf and print it for your personal use. Help document may get updated and you may find the document on

2 Table of Contents for 123D Design Desktop Application 1 Introduction What is 123D Design? How does 123D Design work? What is a solid and what is a mesh? What is direct modeling? Why can t I extrude, sweep, loft or revolve an open profile? Can we use a coordinate system in 123D Design? What can I do with 123D Design? Getting Started Opening a file from the cloud or from local drive Saving a file into the cloud or local drive Online and offline modes How to change the grid size? Using content in 123D Design Concept of primitive How to insert a 3D primitive in a scene Using content from the Parts Bin Opening content from the Gallery Manipulation How to move/rotate an object/sketch How to scale an object/sketch How to use Smart Scale How to use Smart Rotate How to manipulate faces and edges How to snap solids How to align objects Sketching How to sketch in 123D Design How to insert a 2d sketch in the scene How to sketch a Rectangle How to add Fillet to a sketch How to Trim a sketch How to Extend a sketch How to Offset a sketch How to Project a sketch How to Rectangular Pattern with sketches? How to Circular Pattern with sketches? How to Mirror sketches? Introduction to 123D Design 2

3 6 How to create solid geometry How to use Extrude feature How to use Sweep feature How to use Revolve feature How to use Loft feature How to edit solid geometry How to use Press Pull feature How to use Tweak feature How to use Split Face feature How to use Fillet feature How to use Chamfer feature How to use Split Solid feature How to use Shell feature How to use Text feature How to measure distances and sizes in 123D How to use Measure tool How to use Ruler How to convert a Mesh into Solid How to create patterns How to use Rectangular Pattern How to use Circular Pattern How to use Path Pattern How to Mirror solids How to group and combine objects How to Group solids How to Ungroup solids How to Combine objects How to Separate objects How to import geometry into 123D Design Importing SVG files How to add Material to an object How to export from 123D Design Export 3D solid formats Export 3D mesh formats Export 2D vector formats Working with the entire 123D ecosystem D Design (desktop) and 123D Design ios D Design and 123D Catch D Design and Meshmixer D Design and 123D Make Introduction to 123D Design 3

4 D Design and Tinkercad D printing from 123D Exporting for 3D printing Using Meshmixer for 3D printing Sending to 3D Print Bureaus directly from 123D Design Surface Pro 3 and 4 support for 123Design Introduction 1.1 What is 123D Design? 123D Design is a powerful, easy and user-friendly 3D application that can create amazing and complex objects starting from basic shapes or sketches. These objects can then be 3D printed or manufactured with CNC, laser cutters, water jet cutters, etc. The ability to start from content reduces the learning curve and avoids the need of the level of abstraction required when starting from a black canvas and sketches 1.2 How does 123D Design work? When we started the challenge of creating a simple but powerful application for 3D modeling and 3D printing, some decisions had to be made about which workflows to enable. The initial and core target audience was design enthusiasts and hobbyists, who may not want to spend too much time training on a more professional application. Soon we found Design getting used by a much wider audience, so we also expanded the use cases. That said, we really wanted to stay as simple and intuitive as possible, while adding some extra power on different areas of the product. Using existing content seemed to be a great starting point, as opposed to starting with a blank canvas and forcing people to work from sketches. Sketching requires an additional level of abstraction, which we definitely wanted to support, but still give extra emphases to workflows were you can start with primitives and content. With that in mind, adding content to the scene and making it interact nicely with other content was very relevant. This is the reason why any primitive from the toolbar or content from the Parts Bin will try to align to existing content on the scene, and you will see it moving in the screen in real time. We call that action cruising. Cruising can also happen when you drag an existing part with snapping turned on in the navbar (by default snapping is always turned off). At that point, the part will try to use whatever you picked (a face, an edge, a vertex) to cruise and align with other faces or edges. Most of the interactions try to be as natural as possible, and sometimes quite different to mechanical cad applications. For example, upon clicking any object, we select the object itself (instead of going directly into faces or edges). If you want to select edges or faces, you will need to drill down with a second selection. This interaction has proved to be much simpler, and also allows users to immediately click and drag an object. This would be less desirable in mechanical cad, but our target is far from that one anyways. Another interaction we added from the beginning (and that you can disable if you don t like it) is that as soon as you snap an object with another one, they are automatically grouped. Why is that? Let s say that you add a cylinder on top of a box. Then you move the box. Would you expect to move the cylinder? There s a high chance this is the case. And for those situations we created the implicit grouping that you can see on 123D Design. Of course, there are as many people that love it than the ones that hate it. This is the reason we added a toggle for this behavior. Grouping works in similar ways to other products. When we started thinking about how to build this product, we tried to make it as familiar as possible with known behaviors from 3D and 2D applications. For example, if you double click on a group, you will select the object of the group under your mouse, and will be able to edit this object without ungrouping. Something similar happens in PowerPoint, for example. Smart Scale now brings familiarity into a new level, since it offers editing using the very same vertex and midpoint grips that you can see (again) in PowerPoint, or in 123D Design s cousin, Tinkercad. So we bring familiarity not only to users of 2D applications that are entering the 3D world, Introduction to 123D Design 4

5 but also to Tinkercad users that may want to start using a more powerful application for solid modeling while keeping some of the interactions they learned and love in Tinkercad (like editing and aligning). 1.3 What is a solid and what is a mesh? 3D modeling solutions often work with two different types of models: meshes and b-rep solids. It is important to understand the difference between both, since it will help you have more control in 123D Design. The app was originally (and still is) a b-rep modeler. This means that you will have the most accurate representation of the objects you are working on. This approach is mostly seen on mechanical cad and some generic ones (Inventor, Fusion 360, AutoCAD). For example, if you build a cylinder in 123D Design (image below), it will be the extrusion of a circle. The surface will be smooth and extremely precise. When you work with an application that builds meshes (like Tinkercad image below -, or 3ds Max), a cylinder will contain a faceted circle and faceted side. So it is not as accurate as the previous one (especially if you were looking for a perfectly smooth side). You can always increase the resolution of a mesh and get closer to the real curve, but at the expense of really huge models that will slow down your system. The two images below show a section of a cylinder with 12 and 24 facets. The last one looks more like a smooth circle, but you would probably need many more facets to try to match the circle in the image above. 123D Design introduced meshes in a previous release, where we allowed you to have some level of interaction between them. That said, not all options that work on a solid work on a mesh. Let s see why not. Take a fillet, for example. A fillet can be defined as the blending of two or more adjacent faces by adding a radius on the edge, so you can get a smoothed edge. This is an easy operation in a solid, since you have one edge between two faces. Let s go back to the example of the cylinder. If you see a cylinder made out of a mesh (image below), the edge will be a collection of segments and there will be several faces converging there. Even worse, in some cases you will have a triangular face converging by a vertex. Smoothing an edge becomes a much more complex operation. It could be solved on a single fillet, but if you try to fillet or chamfer multiple edges, the solution is quite difficult when doing meshes. Introduction to 123D Design 5

6 B-rep solids are created in 123D Design or can be imported as SAT, STEP and SMB files. You can also insert a 123dx file that might contain solids. Meshes are always imported into 123D Design, and can be either STL or OBJ files. You may also have a 123dx file containing meshes. You can then do operations like Merge, Subtract and Intersect between solids and meshes. You can move, rotate and scale meshes. Some commands will only work in b-rep solids: fillet, chamfer, split body, split face, extrude, sweep, revolve, loft, press/pull and shell. If you want to perform any of these operations in a mesh, you will need to convert it into a solid, which we ll explore later in this document. 1.4 What is direct modeling? Now that we understand what kind of objects can be used in 123D Design, let s mention another important detail: 123D Design is a direct modeling application. So what does this mean? It means that at every moment, you have access to editing faces and edges of any object, and that after every step, the b-rep solid gets recomputed. So, for example, when you do a subtraction between two solids and get a result, the only way to get back is with Undo. You can t access one level deeper in the operation and edit the original objects, because they are already gone. This is a fundamental different with other applications that keep a tree and are also normally parametric. Direct modeling makes things remarkably easier for entry-level users. Of course there s a lot of power on parametric mechanical modeling, and Autodesk has pretty good solutions on the professional side for this (if you want to go along this path, you must try Autodesk Inventor). 1.5 Why can t I extrude, sweep, loft or revolve an open profile? 123D Design only works with solids and meshes, and doesn t support surfaces, which is what you would get when trying to extrude, sweep, loft or revolve an open profile. The reason we chose not to support surfaces is that 123D Design was mainly thought for 3D printing and other methods of manufacturing, and getting a surface ready for production takes some level of understanding that would be exceeding the scope of this product. There are great solutions for surface modeling, like Fusion 360, Alias Studio, AutoCAD, Maya, etc. No need to add yet another tool that does the same, at the cost of making the experience more complicated for an entry level user. 1.6 Can we use a coordinate system in 123D Design? The answer is Yes and No. 123D Design does not expose a coordinate system (universal or user defined), but it somehow fulfills similar needs with the Ruler. You will be able to insert the Ruler at any part of the scene. If you insert it at the origin and then select an object, you are actually using a universal coordinate system. If you snap the Ruler onto any object in the scene and select another one, you will be controlling relative position between these two objects, which is one of the main purposes for a relative coordinate system anyways. Introduction to 123D Design 6

7 1.7 What can I do with 123D Design? Just a look at the Gallery can show you all the amazing work of our users. Let s take a look at some examples. Great use of circular pattern for the drill. The thin layer of metal next to wood was achieved with projection of the boundary of the wood, and then this projection was offset in order to extrude the result. This model looks complex, but is basically an extruded sketch and then the body gets split with a spline. Introduction to 123D Design 7

8 Great example of how you can create extremely complex models out of aggregating simple parts. You can create interesting models by understanding how to use loft of several profiles. This model requires some sketching and projection of sketches, and some understanding around manipulations of sketches before lofting. Introduction to 123D Design 8

9 Importing an SVG file from a comic book can become a cookie cutter in minutes. This example shows how an imported mesh (in this case an OBJ from 123D Creature) can allow you to do fun things in 123D Design. The drawer was cut on the mesh using a subtraction against a box. Another good example of a circular pattern. There s no end to creativity with these tools! Introduction to 123D Design 9

10 2 Getting Started Let s take a look at all the UI components: 1. Main Toolbar Start creating 2D shapes or 3D models using the tools in this toolbar. Transform, construct and modify objects using tools. 2. Application Menu Create new, open, save, import and export files from here. Directly send the files to different applications like 123D Make and Meshmixer or simply send your model to 3D Print to your desktop 3D Printer or to Online Print Service Bureaus. Introduction to 123D Design 10

11 3. Navigation Bar 4. Grid is the place to build the model. Switch on/off the grid with the icon on the Navigation bar. 5. Viewcube is the easy way to navigate on the screen. Just by clicking on different angles, view the model in different angles. 6. Sign in Log on to check your projects, models and social connections from your account. 7. Help Find shortcut keys information. Learn more about the product through the videos, tutorials, forums and website.. 8. Parts Bin Choose from the wide library of Kits that contain several useful models that you can use and modify in 123D Design. 9. Snapping nudging is easy way to bring precision while creating. Use arrows on the keyboard to nudge object. 10. Edit Grid Change the grid size to the preset sizes or specify your own custom grid size. Context menu when selecting objects Context menu when selecting edges or faces of objects Introduction to 123D Design 11

12 2.1 Opening a file from the cloud or from local drive As a 123D user, you have access to save and open projects from My Projects, which are hosted in the cloud. You can also save locally on your drive. When you save a 123dx file in the cloud, we ll also create an STL file that you can download from anywhere, or you can directly submit to a 3D printing service from within your account in 123dapp.com. Of course you can also export an STL file from the application itself. You definitely have a lot of choices. 1. Select the Open (Ctrl/Cmd+O) option from Application Menu. 2. Choose from My projects, local computer, 123D Gallery or Examples. 3. Login to and view your models under My Projects. 2.2 Saving a file into the cloud or local drive 123D Design allows you to save either to your local drives or into the cloud. In order to save to the cloud, you need to save to My Projects. Once you select the option to Save or Save Copy into My Projects, you ll need to sign in (if you hadn t signed in yet) and add info on the requested fields. You also have options for saving Public or Private. When a model is saved to Public, it can be searchable by others and appears in the Gallery. Other users will also be able to download the model. Introduction to 123D Design 12

13 One of the benefits of saving to My Projects is that you get the file translated to different formats that you may find useful, especially if you are not at your computer where 123D Design is installed, and you want to browse your models, show them to someone else, or even launch 3D printing from outside of the application. Let s see how the model we just saved looks like in My Projects. You will need to visit sign in and go to Models (it s under your profile) You will get to your gallery of models coming from all 123D apps (if you use Catch, Make or Meshmixer) and when you select the model s thumbnail, you will see several options. From here you can download all translated assets (STL file, SMB solid- file) and also launch services like 3D printing and creation of 2D layout. You can also choose to add this model into a Project. A Project is made out of one or more models (from any app), and can also host pictures. 123D Design supports 2 languages at present. English and Japanese. You will get the option of choosing the language while you are installing. (on Windows). You can also choose the language from the help menu. After selecting the language you need to restart the application to view the change. Introduction to 123D Design 13

14 2.3 Online and offline modes 123D Design can work either online or offline. If you are in offline mode, you won t be able to access any of the online features (like opening and saving from/to Gallery, creation of 2D layout and send print to service bureaus). The content of the Parts Bin is also loaded from the web, so once you go to offline mode, you will get a reduced version of shapes to work with. You will be notified you are in offline mode by a message next to Help on the top right part of the screen. Online mode Offline mode Introduction to 123D Design 14

15 2.4 How to change the grid size? In 123D Design you can select grid size of your choice form a wide variety of preset dimensions. If you want to prepare your file for 3D printing, you can select grid size of your 3D Printer s print bed. You can actually create your own custom grid size and save it for later use. 3 Using content in 123D Design Starting with predefined content and creating models by manipulation of these shapes is much more intuitive than sketching. 123D Design has a set of shapes available in the toolbar, which we call primitives. It also has a panel with content on the right side, which we call Parts Bin. 3.1 Concept of primitive A primitive is a simple shape that can become a building block for different models. In 123D Design, we have 2D and 3D primitives. The 3D primitives are Box, Sphere, Cylinder, Cone, Torus, Wedge, Prism, Pyramid and Hemisphere. All of these contain some parameters that will be available for editing before inserting them on the scene. Once they are in the scene, manipulation of size should be done with other methods. Introduction to 123D Design 15

16 3.2 How to insert a 3D primitive in a scene The easiest way to start a project is by dragging content into the scene. This can be done through the Parts Bin that appears on the right, or by adding primitives from the toolbar. Primitives allow you to edit their size before you place them on the scene. They will also try to align with other existing objects in the scene. Let s see how to insert a Box in the scene. Select a Box on the main toolbar under Primitives menu Input values for Length, Width and Height in the glyph Place box in a grid/face, and then click outside with the mouse Click Material to select a material e.g. Cherry While inserting a new primitive for the first time, you can snap it to any other solid by dragging it closer to another solid. Note: Insert Sphere, Cylinder, Cone, Torus, Pyramid, Hemisphere, Wedge, and Prism in a similar way. 3.3 Using content from the Parts Bin The Parts Bin is a repository of different kits of objects. You will find several categories that can help you in different projects (hardware, lighting fixtures, gears, toys, etc). Insert content by dragging and dropping into the canvas. The Parts Bin may be collapsed by default. You will find a small control to the right of your screen, and you can use that same control for collapsing the Parts Bin. When the Parts Bin is collapsed, you will see this control to expand it. Introduction to 123D Design 16

17 If the Parts Bin is expanded, you can use this control to collapse it. There is a subtle difference between inserting primitives from toolbar compared to dragging models from the Parts Bin. The primitives from the toolbar will cruise against other objects (trying to align to faces), whereas the models dragged from the Parts Bin will always be inserted on the grid. 3.4 Opening content from the Gallery You can also access a lot more content by opening or inserting content from the 123D Gallery. Since 123D Design can open both solid and mesh models, most of the content in the Gallery will be usable. You can browse the Gallery and sort content in different ways. Just as a reminder, any content coming from an application based on mesh modeling may not be watertight (meaning that there may be gaps in the mesh which will prevent you from doing conversion to solid or 3D print successfully). We ll cover some ways of solving this problem later in this document. 123D Design also has a small gallery of examples that can help you understand the potential of the product. Introduction to 123D Design 17

18 4 Manipulation Now that we know how to insert content in the scene, let s see how to manipulate this content. Manipulation can happen at the object level, or at the sub-object level (faces, edges and vertices). 4.1 How to move/rotate an object/sketch Move and rotate are done using the same Transform tool (if you want to do direct manipulation). You can also move by nudging with the arrow keys and rotate with the X, Y and Z keys. But if you want the whole experience, you will probably use the Transform tool. You can then move and input a distance, or rotate and input an angle. The Transform widget will by default be shown respecting universal coordinates. Sometimes you will need the direction of the widget to be aligned with something else in the scene. In those cases, you will use the option Reorient and the widget will align with any face you choose and also snap to the right place. Snapping to a new origin will allow you to use the widget as a pivot for rotation. Select solid/mesh/sketch. Select (Ctrl/Cmd+T)Move/Rotate feature on the main toolbar under Transform menu Select Arrow manipulator, and then input the exact value or drag the Arrow manipulator to move Hold Rotate manipulator, and then input exact angle or drag the Rotate manipulator to rotate. If you press Shift while dragging, you will constrain the rotation every 45 degrees. If you want to reorient the center point, click Start Reorient, and move the manipulator to the appropriate point. Click Stop Reorient to fix the point. Introduction to 123D Design 18

19 Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse. Note: If the Orient Point is selected, then the object can be moved in three directions; if the Reference Plane is selected, then the object can be move in two directions. You can also rotate solids and meshes after you select them without invoking the transform widget. You can basically press X, Y or Z and the models will rotate 45 degrees clockwise along those axis. By pressing Shift, you can rotate counterclockwise. 4.2 How to scale an object/sketch Scaling in 123D Design can be done through two different options. The traditional one implies the use of a scale factor. Whenever you want to make something twice as big, or a third of the size, even if you don t know the actual size, this is the option for you. Select Scale feature(s), on the main toolbar under Transform menu Select a solid/mesh/sketch Uniform scale and Non Uniform Scale are the 2 different ways of scaling an object Select Uniform to scale the object proportionately Select Non Uniform and input the X,Y, and Z factor in the glyph, you get the flexibility of changing the values for all 3 directions Then, click outside with the mouse. 4.3 How to use Smart Scale The second method for scaling is very similar to the one in Tinkercad. It s very useful for direct manipulation or when you know exactly the final size you want on something, either on one axis or in the three. Select the object. Launch the Smart Scale feature (Ctrl/Cmd+B) from the Transform Menu on the toolbar. You will see manipulators at the corners of the object or the bounding box. Drag them to scale the object non-uniformly. Other way is to click on the dimension arrows or the digits to modify the dimensions of the objects. The object will resize assuming the origin on the center, so it will get bigger towards both sides. If you want to control the direction an object scales, you will do a similar interaction but use the Ruler to define an origin (Ruler will be explained later) Press Alt or Option in Mac to scale the object in one direction. Press Shift to scale the object uniformly. Introduction to 123D Design 19

20 You can press Alt (Option) and Shift together and scale uniformly from the center. 4.4 How to use Smart Rotate With smart rotate you can move/rotate selected objects about the selected plane. It is very effective if you want to transform objects around a selected face. Select a solid preferably with a planar face. And then select solids/meshes that need to be transformed. Select Smart Rotate feature on the main toolbar under Transform menu. First select a face of a solid. Then select solids or meshes that need to be transformed. You will get the manipulators to rotate and transform the objects. Hold rotate manipulator and then input exact angle or drag the rotate manipulator to the appropriate point. You can also move the objects if you wish to. Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse. 4.5 How to manipulate faces and edges Once a solid is selected, you can now select a face, edge or vertex. There are several cases in which working at this level gives you much more flexibility than simply doing operations with different objects. This is one of the main advantages of direct modeling. If you had the chance to keep the history of Boolean operations (merge, subtract or intersect), you would lose the history when moving an edge. Once you select the object, 123D Design needs to understand if you want to select a face or an edge, if you select the object directly on the face you want to select later, you will need to move the mouse out of the face and back in. Once you make the selection of a face or edge, you will see some contextual options (Tweak, Press/Pull and Shell for faces, and Tweak, Fillet and Chamfer for edges). Tweak will invoke the same Transform widget for moving and rotating objects, and you will use it on a very similar way. In case of rotating edges, you will see some options next to the widget. This will help 123D Design understand some of your design intent. For example, when you move an edge you will obviously affect the two adjacent faces. And you will also affect the adjacent faces to these. Try the options shown in the drop down, and see what you exactly need. Introduction to 123D Design 20

21 In the two examples below, the main difference is the option (Extend on the first and Triangulate on the second). Triangulate keeps the edge at the bottom of the front face in the same position. This is possible since we are triangulating faces in order to keep the edge unmoved. Extend also rotated that edge when rotating the face (since we were somewhat extending the influence of the rotation to the edge below). 4.6 How to snap solids When you move objects, there s a high chance you will want to move them next to something else in the scene. Snapping in 123D Design can be done with the Snap tool or simply by dragging objects. Snap tool is explained later in this section. Let s discuss about the snapping behavior while cruising. You may find this option on the Navbar. By default snapping of objects is turned OFF. So even though you drag the objects close to each other, they won t snap. But you can set it ON to snap objects to each other when they are close. As soon as it snaps to the face of the target object, you will get transform manipulators on Introduction to 123D Design 21

22 the snapped face. Use these manipulators to adjust and arrange the object properly. Toggling snapping brings the required flexibility of turning snapping ON/OFF while placing objects and building a model. Another way to locate objects precisely with reference to other objects is to use the Ruler. You can drag the ruler, align it and snap it against a reference object, and then select the target object. Once you do this, the ruler will display distances between reference and target objects. Simply click on the values and edit them. If you use 0 as value, it will be like snapping to that object. Now let s see how the Snap Tool works. Launch Snap feature(;) from the main toolbar Select a face of a solid to snap Select a face of another solid to snap. Once the objects are snapped you can use the manipulators to adjust the position according to the requirement. When you drag a new primitive from the toolbar, it automatically snaps to the solid closer to it. 4.7 How to align objects Select Align feature (A) on the main toolbar under Transform menu Click on the solid/mesh to select Press Ctrl / Cmd to add selection Hover on the round handles to check how the alignment works and click on the handle to align the objects finally. Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click the green ticker. 5 Sketching 5.1 How to sketch in 123D Design Sketching in 123D Design is somehow a hybrid from what you may have seen in products like AutoCAD and parametric products like Inventor, or even Fusion 360. Let s see the differences. When you draw in AutoCAD, all elements live in the same space, and anything that s coplanar may be used for a 3D operation like extrude, sweep, loft or revolve. On the other hand, products like Inventor and Fusion 360 have the concept of Sketch mode. Each part of an assembly has its own sketch. You can also copy sketches out of a part, but basically only segments living in the same sketch mode can interact between each other. So you may have four segments that seem to form a closed square, but if at least one of these is not in the same sketch mode, you won t have a square. Introduction to 123D Design 22

23 123D Design still has an implicit sketch mode, although no sketch belongs to a part in particular. This is why it can be called a hybrid. The way to make several lines to be part of the same sketch is to first click on any part of an existing sketch before start sketching. It s as simple as that. Even if you think that two lines are in the grid (and are coplanar), this doesn t mean they will be in the same sketch. 5.2 How to insert a 2d sketch in the scene 123D Design not only contains 3D primitives (Box, Sphere, etc.) but also contains some pre-made 2d sketches. You can either use these or start a sketch from scratch. You can also import a sketch as an SVG file (we ll cover this later). A nice feature when inserting 2D sketches from the toolbar is that they can align and snap to faces and edges. This can be very useful when just started in the world of 3d modeling, since you don t have to think much about how to align objects manually. Select Rectangle sketch on the main toolbar under Primitives menu Input values for Length and Width in the glyph. Use Tab to cycle through the values (since if you hit Enter after the first one, it will already finish the operation) Place rectangle on the grid/face, and then click outside with the mouse. Note: Insert Circle, Ellipse, and Polygon sketches in a similar way. 5.3 How to sketch a Rectangle Before starting to sketch Select Sketch Rectangle on the main toolbar under Sketch menu Select a grid/sketch/solid face to start sketching Click to specify first corner of rectangle Input the length and width of rectangle Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse. Note: Similarly sketch Circle, Ellipse, Polygon, Polyline, Spline, Two Point Arc, and Three Point Arc on the Grid/Sketch or Solid face. Introduction to 123D Design 23

24 5.4 How to add Fillet to a sketch Sketch fillet adds a fillet to the sketch that already exists in the scene. Select Sketch Fillet feature on the main toolbar under Sketch menu Select a sketch to edit Select one point Input the fillet radius or drag the Arrow manipulator to set the fillet radius Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse. 5.5 How to Trim a sketch Select Sketch Trim feature on the main toolbar under Sketch menu Select a sketch to edit Hover on the line to see the projection. Click on the line to accept it Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse. 5.6 How to Extend a sketch Select Sketch Extend feature on the main toolbar under Sketch menu Select a sketch to edit Hover on the line that you want to extend. You will see a projection. Click on the line to accept it Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse. 5.7 How to Offset a sketch Introduction to 123D Design 24

25 Select Sketch Offset feature on the main toolbar under Sketch menu Select a sketch to offset Input the offset value or move the mouse to set it Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse. Note: A sketch can offset inside and outside. 5.8 How to Project a sketch Select Sketch Project feature on the main toolbar under Sketch menu Select a sketch plane/grid/face of solid as project plane Select face/edge/vertex/sketch geometry to project Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse 5.9 How to Rectangular Pattern with sketches? Insert a Sketch from the toolbar. Introduction to 123D Design 25

26 Select the sketch and choose Rectangular Pattern from the contextual menu. Pattern command for sketches can be launched from the contextual menu only. Main toolbar pattern command works only on solids From the glyph choose Sketch Entities and start selecting the sketch (entities) that you want to pattern Click on Direction/s, and then select one or two lines to assign directions Input distance and quantity in glyph or drag the Arrow manipulator Select another direction, and input the distance and quantity again in glyph or drag the Arrow manipulator Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse Note: Multiple selected sketches can also be patterned at once. The number of patterned sketches can be added/ subtracted by moving the slider. To hide a sketch in a pattern, just uncheck the checkbox placed on it How to Circular Pattern with sketches? Insert a circle sketch primitive from the toolbar. Now choose a rectangle sketch tool from the toolbar and first click on the circle to make it one single sketch. Here it would be good to clarify what a single sketch means. If we draw a circle and exit sketch command and then draw a rectangle on the grid then, those become 2 different sketches. But now if we draw a circle, select it then draw another sketch primitive, then those two become a part of one single sketch. To use pattern command (rectangular, circular, mirror) both the sketches have to be a part of single sketch Select a sketch that needs to be patterned and from the contextual menu choose circular pattern Select sketch (entities) that needs to be patterned. Then select the center point. Input quantity and select options for full or semicircular pattern from the glyph. Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse Note: Multiple selected sketches can also be patterned at once. The number of patterned sketches can be added/ subtracted by moving the slider. To hide a sketch in a pattern, just uncheck the checkbox placed on it. Introduction to 123D Design 26

27 5.11 How to Mirror sketches? Insert a rectangle sketch primitive from the toolbar Select the sketch and choose Mirror command from the contextual menu Select the sketch (entities) that need to ne mirrored. Now choose the mirror line. They all have to be a part of single sketch(explained in circular pattern) Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse 6 How to create solid geometry Solid geometry can be created through four commands: extrude, sweep, revolve and loft. It can be done based on closed profiles or existing faces of solids. Let s take a look at some details for each method. 6.1 How to use Extrude feature Select Extrude feature(u) on the main toolbar under Construct menu Select the top face of a solid Input exact value in the glyph or drag the Arrow manipulator on the top of the solid. You can also click on some face that is at a specific height, and 123D Design will use that height as input for value of Extrusion. Select the right Boolean method-e.g. Merge Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse. You can also extrude based on a closed profile. In both cases, you will also find a control at the top of the Extrusion widget that allows you to control the taper angle. This makes the extrusion not only be perpendicular to the profile or face, but also have an angle of extrusion. If you plan to make a mold for fabricating your object, this draft angle (or extrusion angle in our case) is critical for removing the part from a mold. Introduction to 123D Design 27

28 When you are making an extrusion and there s another object in the path of that extrusion, you will notice that it changes into red. This means that it will subtract whatever it finds along its way. If you don t want this to happen, you will be able to change the parameter from Subtract to Merge (will combine with intersecting object), Intersect (will only keep the area of intersection between objects and remove the rest), or New Solid (you will get a new part that will overlap with intersecting model). Parameter Boolean: Boolean Image Description Merge It is used to merge between the new part and original part Subtract Intersect New Solid It is used to subtract between the new part and original part It is used to intersect between the new part and original part It is used to create a new solid. Note: Boolean works in the same way, for all of the features below. Use it exact the same way as you use while extruding. 6.2 How to use Sweep feature Select Sweep feature(w) on the main toolbar under Construct menu Select closed Profile A Click Path button, and then select the path B Input exact value in the glyph or use manipulator to sweep Select the right Boolean method - e.g. New Solid (as explained in Extrude Feature) Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse. 6.3 How to use Revolve feature Select Revolve feature (V) on the main toolbar under Construct menu Select closed Profile A Introduction to 123D Design 28

29 Click Axis button, and then select axis B Input exact value in glyph or use manipulator to revolve Select the right Boolean method - e.g. Merge (as explained in Extrude Feature) Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse. 6.4 How to use Loft feature Create two closed sketches Select Loft feature (L) on the main toolbar under Construct menu Select the first sketch A, and then click sketch B Drag round handles to modify the shape Select the right Boolean method-new Solid (as explained in Extrude Feature) Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse. You can also loft multiple profiles. You simply need to click on Ctrl (on PC) or Command (on Mac) while you select profiles. You won t see the progress of the loft until you press Enter and commit, since the application can t assume the curvature on the profile before knowing what profile is coming next. Introduction to 123D Design 29

30 7 How to edit solid geometry 7.1 How to use Press Pull feature Select Press Pull feature(p) on the main toolbar under Modify menu. Select a surface/plane of a solid Input exact value in glyph or pull the Arrow manipulator. Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse. Note: if the input value is negative, then the Press function is implemented. If the input value is positive, then the Pull function is implemented. 7.2 How to use Tweak feature Select Tweak feature (K) on the main toolbar under Modify menu. Select a face or edge or vertex of a solid Drag center point to distort the solid in X, Y, and Z direction Drag rotational Arrow Manipulator to distort the solid in a degree Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse. 7.3 How to use Split Face feature Create a solid Introduction to 123D Design 30

31 Create a sketch line on the top of face Select Split Face feature (B) on the main toolbar under Modify menu Click Face to Split and then select the top face of a solid Click Splitting Entity, and then select the sketch line Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse. Note: A face can be split by using a solid. 7.4 How to use Fillet feature Select Fillet feature (E) on the main toolbar under Modify menu Select an edge or multiple edges of a solid Input exact radius value in glyph or drag the Arrow manipulator. You can also click on a previous fillet and 123D Design will take the value of that fillet, and use it as input for radius. If Tangent Chain is checked on then all the edges that are tangentially connected, will be selected at once. Otherwise you will need to individually select each edge. Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse. 7.5 How to use Chamfer feature Introduction to 123D Design 31

32 Select Chamfer feature(c) on the main toolbar under Modify menu Select an edge or multiple edges of a solid Input exact value in glyph or drag the Arrow manipulator Tangent chain result depends on the model. If your model has edges that are tangentially connected only then you will be able to see a visible effect on the model. If Tangent Chain option is checked on, then all the edges that are tangentially connected, will be selected at once. Otherwise you will need to individually select each edge. Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse. 7.6 How to use Split Solid feature Create 2 solids, for e.g. a Sphere and a Cone Select Split Solid feature (Alt+B) on the main toolbar under Modify menu Click Body to Split, and then select the Sphere to be split. Click Splitting Entity, and then select the Cone as splitting tool Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse. 7.7 How to use Shell feature Select Shell feature (J) on the main toolbar under Modify menu Select the top face of solid Select Both from the Direction option Input the values of thickness for the Inside arrow and the Outside arrow, or just drag the Arrow manipulator Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse Note: A solid can be made hollow by using Shell. 8 How to use Text feature Having a smart way of creating text was a huge request in 123D from the first version. The Text feature currently in 123D Design empowers you to not only create a text easily, but also to do some more sophisticated operations. Introduction to 123D Design 32

33 Launch Text feature (T) from the main toolbar Click on grid, sketch or solid face to add text. Specify text position and type the required text in the input box. Select font, text style, height and angle Click OK. When you select the text on the grid, you will be able to see the contextual menu. Options like edit, move, extrude and explode will be available in the contextual menu. The option to Explode the text will expose the sketch. At that point, you can work with each letter separately. Introduction to 123D Design 33

34 9 How to measure distances and sizes in 123D 9.1 How to use Measure tool Select Measure feature (Shift+M) on the main toolbar under main menu Select 2 different faces/edges or vertices of the same solid or 2 different solids. You will be able to see distance and angle between the 2 items. Clear the existing selection before you want to select the 1 or 2 different bodies. You will be able to see the results below. Click Close to end the Measure feature. 9.2 How to use Ruler The Ruler is a feature that 123D Design borrowed from Tinkercad, in an effort to converge the user experience in the areas where it made sense (like with Align, Smart Scale and overall look and feel). It does introduce some additional power, since the Ruler in 123D Design can also cruise along faces and snap to endpoints and midpoints of edges and center of faces. You can also have more granularity in selection of what to measure (minimum distance, midpoint or maximum distance). Introduction to 123D Design 34

35 Select Ruler feature (R) on the main toolbar under Transform menu Click on grid or solid/mesh to place the Ruler Click on solid/mesh/2d Shape to select Select Ruler type e.g. Midpoint from the glyph Click on Manipulator and drag it to move the selection along respective directions or input the exact values by clicking on the dimension arrows or digits. Press Ctrl to choose multiple objects. Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click the green ticker. Note: You cannot edit dimensions of a sketch or a bounding box containing sketch and 3D object in the Ruler command. But at the same time you can edit ruler dimensions. Note: Press Ctrl / Cmd to subtract selection. 10 How to convert a Mesh into Solid 123D Design 1.7 introduces an option called Convert to Solid, which takes a mesh and tries to optimize it for using solid modeling options after the conversion. For example, all triangles forming the face of an object that are coplanar will be optimized into a single face in the new solid. So this gives you the chance to then make a fillet or a chamfer to the edge between optimized faces. Sounds cool, right? Since you also have one single face, you can also extrude or press/pull that face, without ending up pulling only one triangle from the original mesh. Remember that if you convert to solid a series of non-planar faces, you will end up with a solid with many triangles, which will lose the value of converting to solid in the first place. Meshes with organic shapes are a very bad idea if you want to use this command. Stay with meshes that have clearly been created from a CAD application. Select a Mesh that has planar or cylindrical surfaces. Click on the icon (M) from the Context Menu. If the part is complex, it will take a while to convert the Mesh into Solid. Once done, then perform any commands from the toolbar on the newly created Solid. If the mesh is too complex, the conversion to solid may fail. When you make Booleans between solids and meshes, we are actually converting mesh to solid for making the Boolean, and then back to mesh (and you won t ever notice). If you don t need too much complexity on the mesh, Introduction to 123D Design 35

36 it is a good idea to reduce its complexity and make sure it s watertight and all normals are pointing in the right direction. You can do this in Meshmixer (some more details later). 11 How to create patterns Patterns are a great mechanism for adding complexity on a model with very simple operations. You will only need an object of origin, and some auxiliary geometry (which can be an existing edge, or a sketch). Patterns can also be done on sketches, which can be very powerful too How to use Rectangular Pattern Select Rectangular Pattern feature (N) on the main toolbar under Pattern menu Select a solid Click on Direction/s, and then select one or two edges to assign directions Input distance and number in glyph or drag the Arrow manipulator Select another direction, and input the distance and number in glyph or drag the Arrow manipulator Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse Note: Multiple selected solids also can be patterned at once. The number of patterned solids can be added/ subtracted by moving the slider. To hide a solid in a pattern, just uncheck the checkbox placed on it How to use Circular Pattern Select Circular Pattern (Shift+N) feature on the main toolbar under Pattern menu Select a solid for e.g.: Box Click Axis, and then select circular type e.g. Full Select an edge of a solid or sketch, and then input number in glyph or drag the slider to set the number Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse Note: Edge, face and line can be used to refer as axis. A face is selected, and then the normal of face is referred as axis. Line or edge is selected, and then it is used as axis. Introduction to 123D Design 36

37 11.3 How to use Path Pattern Select Path Pattern (Alt+N) feature on the main toolbar under Pattern menu Select a solid Click Path, and select a path type e.g. Identical Select a path, e.g. the two edges of Box or a sketch, and then input the distance value or drag the Arrow manipulator Click the slider, and then input the number of solids or move the slider to set the number Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse 11.4 How to Mirror solids Select Mirror feature on the main toolbar under Pattern menu Select a solid e.g. Cone Click Mirror Plane Select a line to refer to as a mirror plane Press Enter/Return to execute the command or just click outside with the mouse Note: A face also can be referred as a mirror plane. 12 How to group and combine objects Grouping and combining are two very different operations How to Group solids Introduction to 123D Design 37